Blazers win a goalfest

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Old-time hockey was back in town Friday night, at least for 40 minutes.
For two periods of Friday night’s WHL game, Regina and Kamloops threw away the X’s and O’s, the clipboards and the systems. This was shinny, plain and simple. It was river hockey without the puck getting lost in the snowbank.
This was Garth and Wayne on the road in front of your house. Game on!
“That was 1990 hockey,” Kamloops general manager Craig Bonner said at one point during his Blazers’ 8-5 victory over the Pats before 4,375 well-entertained fans at Interior Savings Centre.
This one had a little bit of everything — although, yes, good goaltending and solid defence were in short supply at times — and the old mausoleum was noisier than during any previous game this season.
The Blazers, who trailed 5-3 just four minutes into the second period, scored the game’s last five goals, with the last two going into an empty Regina net, as Kamloops halted a two-game losing skid.
Asked what goes through a coach’s mind as river hockey takes over a game, Kamloops head coach Barry Smith replied: “You keep preaching and preaching because everybody sees their cookie and says, ‘Oh, I want to get that chance. Look, it’s wide open.’
“It took a while to get through our heads but in the third period we did the right things. And that was the difference with the one-goal lead.”
That and the ability to kill a four-minute Regina power-play after Kamloops right-winger Tyler Shattock was ejected at 4:18 of the third period with an interference major for a hit on defenceman Mike Scarborough.
The Pats, down 6-5 at the time, had good puck possession for a lot of the power play but were kept to the outside and didn’t muster so much as one shot. The power play ended four minutes in when sniper Jordan Eberle, who was ineffective as he played his third game in as many nights after playing a doubleheader against a touring Russian side, was penalized for high-sticking.
“The players did a real good job to lock it down . . . in the third period,” Smith said. “We did a great job. We gave up no shots on their five-minute power play.
“And we moved pucks well; it wasn’t like we were sitting back.”
No, they weren’t. As a matter of fact, the Blazers held a high-scoring Regina team, which now has lost three straight to fall to 15-11-1-3, to seven third-period shots, while getting seven themselves.
“They deserved it,” Regina head coach Dale Derkatch said of the Blazers.
“They battled back. They played hard. And in the third period they did what they had to do and they didn’t give us anything, which I don’t understand . . . not after the first couple of periods when we could put pressure on them.”
As for not scoring on the major penalty . . .
“That’s what I thought would determine how the game would go,” Derkatch said, “and it did.”
The Blazers did an effective job on Regina’s big line — Jordan Weal between Eberle and Michael MacAngus. Eberle was minus-4 and each of the others was minus-2.
“They get a lot of minutes and they’re our main guys,” Derkatch said. “Our top line was a minus and that doesn’t help.”
When Regina winger Matt Strueby scored his second goal, just 3:54 into the second period, the Pats had a 5-3 lead. Smith watched the replay on the clock and shook his head.
He said later he was “very close” to yanking goaltender Justin Leclerc, who gave up five goals on 16 shots through two periods.
“I’m sure they were very close with their guy, too,” Smith said with a laugh. “Some nights the team has to bail (Leclerc) out. In the end, we got the win. We did the right thing.”
Kenton Dulle, in his first game back after missing five with an arm injury, scored twice for Kamloops, the last one an empty-netter. Nick Ross, Jimmy Bubnick, Brendan Ranford, Shattock, Giffen Nyren and Brady Calla, also into an empty net, had the Blazers’ other goals.
Mitch Czibere, Graham Hood and Brett Leffler also scored for Regina, which got 26 saves from goaltender Damien Ketlo.
The victory was especially sweet for Ross, who was acquired from Regina in a deal last season.
“I really wanted this one bad,” said Ross, who added that he only knows about half the players on the Pats. “Everyone really wanted this one. You like to win one for a teammate. It felt really good.”
Regina defenceman Victor Bartley, who went the other way in that trade, had one assist and was involved in a fight at game’s end. As he left the ice he appeared to be exchanging greetings — Christmas, no doubt — with the Kamloops bench.
JUST NOTES: Referees Dan Cowley and Trevor Hanson gave Regina 12 of 18 minors, four of nine majors and one of two misconducts. Kamloops took the lone game misconduct. . . . The Blazers were 2-for-7 on the power-play; the Pats were 0-for-2. . . . Linesman Chris Sweeting went down with an injury to his left knee in a two-fight skirmish at game’s end. . . . Considering this is the only meeting of the season between these teams there was a lot of nastiness on display. . . . The last time Kamloops scored eight goals in a game? It was Feb. 2, in an 8-1 victory over the Cougars in Prince George. . . . Bubnick’s goal, the Blazers’ second of the game, was his 12th of the season, but his first since Oct. 25. He had gone 12 games without scoring. . . . Kamloops C Scott Wasden had an assist and also engaged in two bouts. He had gone 11 games without a point. . . . The Blazers left for Spokane shortly after the game. They will play the Chiefs there tonight but are almost certain to be without Shattock, who will be suspended while the league investigates his hit on Scarborough. . . . Fifteen minutes after the game, Scarborough was walking under his own power as his father, Joe, took him to Royal Inland Hospital. After the hit, Scarborough, who played last season with the Red Deer Rebels, was in shock on the ice as he tried to get to his feet before medical staff got him laying down again. . . . Regina D Colten Teubert, like Eberle, looked spent at times after playing against the Russians in Swift Current on Wednesday and Prince Albert on Thursday.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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